Chapter 34 - Unburdening

I sat silently, listening to TK, and praying the bell for the end of the day to come.

"I simply cannot believe she's going out with him of all people! It's absolutely insane! He's a danger to her, us, and probably the entire digital world, even if he doesn't mean to be!"

I feel like shit. If I had just stuck around a little longer, Ken would be okay. Some friend I am.

Above me, TK's voice suddenly got cutting.

"Are you even listening Davis?!"

I looked up at him.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever."

He growled.

"What's with you?!"

All right. That's it. I've had enough of this.

"What's with me?! What's with me?! What the hell is wrong with you TK?! Joe's gone, Ken's hospitalized, and you can only worry about Kari, who you wouldn't have lost if you hadn't been such an ass in the first place!"

TK glared.

"I am trying to prevent more harm from being done by someone who has control over a monster, Davis! Viruses can't be trusted-"

I lost it there, and leapt up and hit him, sending him sprawling to the ground. My voice lost it's energy.

"Wormmon is a virus too, TK. Type doesn't matter. Just what's inside, and I thought you knew that. Guess I was wrong."

TK lay there, rubbing his jaw, looking up at me. Then he looked down.

"I've been an idiot, haven't I Davis?"

I sat down next to him.

"Yeah. But at least you can have a second chance. I left Ken alone for about two minutes, and look what happened. I should have been there, but…"

"You can't blame yourself for that Davis, you didn't do anything…"

"That's the point! I should have! I should have been there…"

"It wasn't like you knew it was going to happen and messed up, Davis. Sometimes these things just happen."

"Maybe…"

Then the bell rang, and suddenly TK's hand was in front of me.

"Come on, let's get to the hospital. We have to give Yolie a ride. I don't think she's in any condition to do anything by herself right now."

I nodded, and took his hand, hoisting myself up. Then he smiled a little sheepishly.

"Besides, I have to try to at least salvage a friendship with Kari, and knowing her, she'll be there."

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According to Sora, Gomamon had finished his crying jags once he was woke up, and was now as well as could be expected. We were sitting in the hospital waiting room now.

"I'm not sure how to say this Gomamon…"

He looked up at me.

"We're not going to go look for Joe yet, are we, Tai?"

I shook my head, feeling a great deal of shame well up in me.

"No, we're not. Piedmon needs to be handled now. After what happened to Ken, sending Digidestined off in small groups to look for him is…"

Gomamon finished for me.

"Suicide."

I nodded.

"I'm so sorry Gomamon, but I just can't…"

"I know Tai. And Joe would be the first to tell you that you should handle Piedmon first. I just worry that the more time it takes to finish this, the harder it'll be to find Joe…"

I nodded, and we sat in silence for a bit. Then Ken's parents came out, and nodded at us. We could go in now. I placed my coat on the seat, and ventured across to the room. I closed the door after me.

Ken was hooked up to what seemed to be some fairly standard hospital equipment. His left leg was elevated and in a cast, he had some IVs in his arm and there was some gauze around his head. He smiled a little as I approached.

"Hey."

"Hey."

I sighed. Hospitals suck.

"I imagine you'll get this a lot today, but how are you feeling?"

He groaned, but his voice was confident.

"Not as bad as it looks. The leg's broken, and I had shallow cuts all over, and then there's the concussion, but other than that I'm fine. I should be out of here in a week or so. Of course, they say I'll have the cast for at least a month after that."

I nodded.

"Well, that's great, all things considered."

He smiled.

"Yeah, I had some internal bleeding, but it healed up overnight. I'll be in some decent pain for a while, but I'll live."

I nodded, and we sat for a bit, then I stood.

"Well, I should go, and make room for somebody else."

"Yeah."

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Kari entered after Tai left, starting a continuous stream of well wishers that lasted pretty much until visiting hours were over. The most amusing things were Kari and TK's separate rants about each other, and the most annoying was attempting to convince Davis that this wasn't his entire fault. The only people left here were my parents and Yolie, who was currently sleeping hunched over the bed.

In fact, the only person who didn't come see me today was…

The door creaked open slightly, and Takato entered the room. Noting Yolie sleeping, tears dried, he whispered.

"Hey, sorry I'm late."

I smiled a little.

"Not like you would have been able to get in at all earlier. But aren't visiting hours over?"

He looked a little nervous, but shrugged.

"Heh heh. Imagine that. Oh well. How are you holding up?"

I smiled.

"As well as can be expected. But can we not talk about me? What were you doing? Kari mentioned you said you had some errands to run."

"I went into the digital world to talk to Azulongmon about the attack. Among other things."

"Like…?"

He looked at me funny.

"What's with the twenty questions routine?"

"I've been stuck in this bed listening to people gripe all day, if not about me then about their personal lives. I could use some actual news."

He nodded slowly.

"Well, I assume by now you've heard that Joe's gone missing. Tai says we can't afford to go looking for him right now because of Piedmon… Let's see… hmmm…"

I let out a smile.

"I hear from TK that you and Kari are dating now…"

He grimaced at that.

"That… is not quite what it seems. I think that's about all I'll say on that front. How's Davis, he was beating himself up over this earlier."

"He's still doing it. It wasn't his fault, but he can't quite seem to get it through his head. What did Azulongmon say about Piedmon anyways?"

He arched an eyebrow.

"You sure you wanna know?"

"Yes. Who's out there doing this? Why?"

Takato sighed.

"We're not sure, but we're pretty sure tall dark and creepy is behind all of these recent revivals."

My eyes widened.

"Daemon?!"

Takato nodded.

"I'd appreciate it if that wasn't spread around too much. Piedmon is the real problem at this point."

"But Daemon -"

"Is stuck in the Dark Ocean. We don't need to deal with him right now - maybe not ever. Piedmon will give us enough trouble."

I nodded.

"I'm not sure I agree with that completely, but I suppose Piedmon is the more immediate concern."

Yolie stirred at this point, blinking and raising her head.

"Takato…?"

"Hey. How are you doing."

She frowned a little groggily.

"What's that supposed to mean? Ken's the one in the hospital bed…"

"Yeah, but the people outside of it tend to become complete head cases."

Oh great, now he's done it…

Yolie was wide awake now.

"What did you say?!"

He only grinned.

"Got your attention didn't I?"

She stopped suddenly, then started laughing a little. He threw me a wink that Yolie didn't catch. I decided to change the subject.

"So what were the other things you were talking to Azulongmon about?"

"Hmmm? Oh, just some personal stuff. I sent off a letter to Impmon, along with his Behemoth."

"But didn't…"

Takato blinked.

"Oh, right, I never got around to telling you guys did I? It turns out the little squirt's alive and well, back in the southern quadrant. Strangest thing."

Yolie smiled.

"Well, I'm glad he's okay."

Takato nodded, then rose.

"We should go. Come on Yolie. Unlike certain other people, we have school tomorrow."

She nodded and got up as well.

"See you tomorrow Ken."

"Yeah. See you guys."

Takato paused on his way out the door and smacked his head.

"Can't believe I almost forgot."

He went into the bathroom for a moment, I heard him mumble something, and a strange light came out from where I couldn't see. He came out with a shiny new D-Terminal, complete with the Crest of Kindness embossed on top.

"How the…"

He looked a little tired suddenly.

"Whatever you do Ken, don't ask me how I got that. It's an explanation you don't want to hear and I don't want to give. Have Izzy set it up for you when he comes in next."

Then he waved goodbye and left, leaving me with a few new questions.

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I dodged the doctors while exiting the hospital. Entering with the green cards had been risky enough, and I didn't need to be told to sign out on a visitor's list I hadn't signed in on.

At least in this case, luck seemed to be with me as I managed to hit the street without anything happening. I started back towards the apartment. Mr. and Mrs. Ichijouji were still in the hospital, and I kinda wished that Piedmon would try to attack me on my way back there.

I am going to put some serious hurt on that guy.

"Takato…"

I turned suddenly to find Sora leaning against a railing behind me.

Huh?

"Um, what are you doing here? Didn't Tai say no one should be out alone…?"

She nodded.

"And I said that I'd wait here for you. It was a bit of a risk, but not too much of one. Tai said you'd show up eventually, but I kind of expected to see you walk up to the building, not out of it…"

Think fast Takato…

"Well, funny thing about the digiport I was using, spit me out in the hospital…"

Sora just raised an eyebrow skeptically, but let it pass.

"Uh huh. Well, let's get going."

I nodded, and we headed out to her car. The drive was a little silent as we drove. Then she brought up a topic of conversation I'd hoped to avoid, but was probably inevitable.

"So… what's this I hear about you and Kari going out?"

I grimaced. I would have pounded my head against something too, had there been anything to pound against.

"Ugh. That really isn't what it seems. It's just a trick to get the other girls to stop climbing all over me…"

Sora smirked.

"See! I was right! Those clothes are getting you girls!"

"Uh, yeah…"

She sighed and looked over at me as she stopped at an intersection.

"So what's the deal? You don't like any of them?"

I fidgeted nervously in my seat.

"Well, it's not so much that…"

Her eyes glinted then, and I could tell I was in for a rough time.

"Oh that's right, the other guys did mention you had someone back home, didn't they…"

"I wouldn't exactly call it that. If I did 'have' her, and she'd kill me for using that word, I probably wouldn't have had to leave the southern quadrant in the first place."

"So just someone you've been pining over then?"

She sighed then, and continued wistfully.

"That's just so incredibly romantic…"

Her eyes took on that sudden gleam again.

"Tell me about her."

"Wha?"

"It's a long ride down to the Ichijouji apartment. We need something to do."

I nodded, and then began, hesitant though I was. After a short time though, I stopped stuttering, and began elaborating, until I began just saying anything that came to mind about her, getting it all off my chest.

I never even realized that we had been sitting in the parking lot for ten minutes before I finished.